Project description:Marine cone snails have attracted researchers from all disciplines but early life stages have received limited attention due to difficulties accessing or rearing juvenile specimens. Here, we document the culture of Conus magus from eggs through metamorphosis to reveal dramatic shifts in predatory feeding behaviour between post-metamorphic juveniles and adult specimens. Adult C. magus capture fish using a set of paralytic venom peptides combined with a hooked radular tooth used to tether envenomed fish. In contrast, early juveniles feed exclusively on polychaete worms using a unique “sting-and-stalk” foraging behaviour facilitated by short, unbarbed radular teeth and a distinct venom repertoire that induces hypoactivity in prey. Our results demonstrate how coordinated morphological, behavioural and molecular changes facilitate the shift from worm- to fish-hunting in C. magus, and showcase juvenile cone snails as a rich and unexplored source of novel venom peptides for ecological, evolutionary and biodiscovery studies.
Project description:The venom of cone snails is highly variable both between and within species, as well as spatially along the venom duct. However, defferences of defensive and predatory venoms in "hook-and-line" fish hunting clades and their venom duct origins has not been investigated. In this study a combination of proteomics and transcriptomic approaches were used to decode the venom profiles of C. striatus from the Pionoconus clade. The raw data files obtained from the reduced alkylated and digested venom duct sections (distal, central and proximal), injected predatory and defensive induced venoms are submitted here.
Project description:Combined Proteomic and Transcriptomic Interrogation of the Venom Gland of Conus geographus Uncovers Novel Components and Functional Compartmentalization
2014-07-28 | PXD000581 | Pride
Project description:Diversity of conopeptides and conoenzymes from the venom duct of the marine cone snail Conus bayani using transcriptomic and proteomic analyses
